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Myths, Legends and Histories
There are many myths and legends prevalent in the Lands of Erothel. Many are false; even more are true... The Realm of One In the beginning, the Four Planar Realms were collected together as one. Residing within the Realm of One was the High Pantheon of Gods. This pantheon was made up of nine gods: Pelor, Obad-Hai, Boccob, Nerull, Erythnul, Ehlonna, the brothers Heironeous and Hextor, and A'Sheeraz. These deities were organized into a council, presided over by Erythnul, Obad-Hai and Nerull. Obad-Hai was the gods' champion over natural order and balance. Erythnul, the god of life ensured that all things had a beginning while Nerull ensured that all things had an end. The First Act The gods began to grow tired of merely manipulating the swirling energies that ebbed and flowed across the realm. At Erythnul's urging, the council decided that they would perform their first act of creation. Ehlonna, Pelor and The Brothers formed a single world for which the gods' new creation could live and thrive upon. Erythnul then lay with A'Sheeraz, the goddess of the primordial energies of creation and they begat the gods' first creation of life: the Titans, demigods of great strength and beauty and powers of creation that nearly rivaled that of the gods. Obad-Hai lent his influence by giving the Titans a sense of balance and wisdom. Boccob, god of magic, was responsible for giving the Titans their supernatural powers. The gods felt that giving the Titans these powers would allow them to rest as they observed what their new creation could do. Nerull was most vigilant however, to ensure that none of the demigods became too powerful. Age of the Titans The titans prospered. They raised two giant strongholds on their world, one at each pole. Each of these towering fortresses were fashioned by the Titan, Kazroth the Builder. With his great hammer he rose stone and fire from the ground and pleased the gods greatly with his ability to create wondrous works of architecture. The greatest favor, however, was given to Fharlanghn, the Road Builder, a Titan who had created a vast road that connected the two strongholds. The gods commended his precision, expertise and most importantly his foresight in keeping the Titans united. It was because of Fharlanghn's creation and his vigilance over the One Road that he became the first Titan to ascend to the seat of a god. The road to his ascension however, was paved in blood. The Great Shattering Kazroth grew jealous of his Titan brother and the favor that the gods showed towards him. Kazroth believed his strongholds - not some simple road - to be the greatest homage to the gods. His jealousy boiled inside him and soon turned to rage and spite towards the gods. He was blinded by madness and saw the only way to gain favor with the gods was to remove Fharlanghn from the picture. Kazroth conspired with the Titan, Olidammara, a demigod who lived for pranks and trickery. Together, they convinced the titan smiths Kord and Moradin to create the most powerful blade that they could, powerful enough to kill a Titan. They did so under the premise that the blade would merely be a deterrent and failsafe in case any Titan attempted to destroy creation. Kazroth then gave the blade to Olidammara who then ambushed Fharlanghn on his own road. Olidammara was horrified at what had happened; the Titan's obsession with tricks had left him naive of the gravity of Kazroth's plans. All the while he had thought the blade could actually be fatal to a fellow Titan. Nonetheless, the slain Fharlanghn lay before him. It is said this was the only time Olidammara ever wept and was what caused his mask to be forever twisted. This was not truly the end for Fharlanghn, however. Upon his death, his spirit was granted a place among the gods as a reward for his accomplishments. Kazroth went insane with the news that his scheme had actually led to Fharlanghn's ascension to godhood. With his hammer, Kazroth channeled all the energies within the Realm of One. He raised his tool of creation above his head and with one fell swoop, slammed the hammer into the ground at the center of one of the strongholds. The force and power of his strike was so immense that it destroyed the Titans' world and shattered the realm into pieces. The gods could not believe that a Titan was capable of such power. The Four Planar Realms Kazroth's actions had doomed his fellow titans. The Realm of One was now shattered. The single world that the Titans' might had created now lay broken into three of these planes. The two polar strongholds became the Astral Plane and the Plane of Shadow, while Fharlanghn's road became the Material Plane. The whole of creation was now broken and warped. In its place, the four Planar Realms formed: The Material Realm, The Transitive Realm, and the Inner and Outer Planes. In retribution, the gods banished Kazroth to a fifth realm, one that resided outside of existence itself. The rest of the Titans were all banished to other planes in order to ensure that none of them would commit such an act of destruction ever again. Nerull took some pleasure in what Kazroth had done. This was the greatest act of destruction the God of Endings had ever seen and he wished to reward Kazroth somehow. Unfortunately, Kazroth's fate was final so instead Nerull memorialized the titan by granting Kazroth's lover, Wee Jas, godhood. She too reveled in death and was a powerful practitioner of the arcane energy that Boccob had originally granted the Titans. Nerull would soon become her mentor and use her to ensure that there were still endings in this new manifestation of the universe. The Titans were not the only ones to suffer from this calamity. Erythnul's mind was shattered just as the Realm of One was. The thought that the creation that he had begat was the cause of such evil and destruction was too much for him to handle. He became volatile and psychotic, believing that life and the very act of creation was flawed, an abomination. He shunned the other gods, especially his former lover, A'Sheeraz. The Three Dragons Millennia passed by. The gods remained watchful of the fallen Titans. Eventually, they grew restless once more and a few of the gods felt a need to create once more. This time, to spare the other planes of the destruction that this new creation might sow, they confined it to the Material Plane. Ehlonna and the Brothers created the first of the great dragons: Corilistrasz who had command over earth and life. Boccob created the second, a magnificent dragon named Ayrnvallu. She was the embodiment of the arcane, chaotic energies that pierced through the boundary of the Astral Plane and permeate the Material Plane today. An air of mystery surrounded Ayrnvallu; She seemed simultaneously corporeal and ethereal, as though she were fading between planes. Pelor and A'Sheeraz who had become close since Erythnul had fallen into madness. Together, they created the third and final dragon, Skizzit, whose scales seemed to blend with the blackness of space. Skizzit had command over the cosmos. Erythnul loathed these new creations and he despised the bond that had formed between Pelor and A'Sheeraz. Erythnul sought to destroy both the bond that these gods shared and the newly created dragons. The Three dragons lived in harmony for millennia. Over time, Corilistrasz and Ayrnvallu developed an affection for one another. Erythnul saw this as an opportunity which he could exploit. He sought the Titan Olidammara and took the Titan-killing blade from him. Erythnul infused the blade with his own madness and turned it on A'Sheeraz. Erythnul the Many sank the blade into the goddess' chest and with this terrible act, the blade that had once killed a titan had now killed a god. Pelor happened upon the body of his dead lover and turned to strike down her killer. Obad-Hai and the rest of the gods intervened, keeping Pelor from acting on his rage and saving another god from death. Pelor was wracked with grief. As the centuries passed, Pelor became ever more withdrawn. It is said that during this time, all the suns and the stars across the planes went dark. The most ancient texts refer to this era as the Age of the Setting Sun. These events provided further opportunity for Erythnul to strike at the heart of the gods' new creation. Erythnul found an easy target in Skizzit, the herald of the cosmos. You see, while Skizzit was at home in the blackness of space, it was the billions of twinkling points of starlight that lit his way and kept his psyche grounded. With Pelor's absence, there were no lights to guide him. The great dragon became paranoid and fearful. It was then that Erythnul stepped in and pushed him to the brink of madness. He began to whisper and plot in the dragon's ear. "Corilistrasz and Ayrnvallu have each other while you are left with nothing in all this darkness," Erythnul would say. Skizzit's jealousy grew into a seething hatred of his brother and he lusted after Ayrnvallu. Finally, he struck out at Corilistrasz. The two drakes battled across the Material Plane. Skizzit found great power in his madness. He tore into Corilistrasz mercilessly; each piece of flesh torn from the earthshaper's body seeded the cosmos. Galaxies, planets, and all matter of astrological object coalesced from the great dragon's remains. Ayrnvallu attempted to intervene and save her companion but she was too late, Skizzit was victorious. She mustered all of the arcane energies that she could and released a wave of pure chaotic power upon Skizzit. With this, Ayrnvallu was no more; her physical form had been dismantled as arcane energy spread throughout the Material Plane. The blast of energy reawakened some sense of clarity in Skizzit but he was only to realize that his worst fears had come true. He was now completely alone in the infinite of the Material Plane. With nothing to ground him, his body began to fade completely into the fabric and blackness of space.